Taylor Swift has broken a Billboard 200 chart record previously held by the late Whitney Houston.

The 'Shake It Off' hitmaker's latest LP, 'folklore', has returned to the top of the US chart, and has now surpassed the music icon's record for the most cumulative weeks at number one for a female artist.

The 30-year-old pop superstar has now spent 47 weeks at the top of the chart, beating Whitney's 46 weeks.

'Hello' hitmaker Adele is in third place, having spent 34 weeks on top.

The Beatles are the overall record holders of male and female artists, as the 'Let it Be' hitmakers spent 132 weeks at number one.

Sir Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson and more follow closely behind.

Taylor had already become the first artist ever to debut at number one on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts in the same week.

The surprise LP, which she dropped in July, hit the summit of the Billboard 200 album chart, and the lead single, 'cardigan', went on to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

The album had already smashed several records, including achieving 80.6 million Spotify streams in one day - the most ever for a female artist.

And across the pond, the 'Love Story' hitmaker became the first and only female artist in the 21st Century to score five number one studio albums in the UK after 'folklore' topped the charts.

The record sold 37,060 copies in its first week in the UK, and all sales occurred online, as the coronavirus pandemic meant there had been no physical release in stores.

Meanwhile, Taylor - who is nominated for six awards at this year's Billboard Music Awards - recently admitted her fans are ''the only reason'' why people ''care'' about her music.

The 'ME!' hitmaker heaped praise on her loyal supporters - affectionately known as Swifities - as she won the Best Direction award for her music video, 'The Man', at the MTV Video Music Awards last month.

Speaking in a self-filmed acceptance speech, she said: ''I really want to thank the fans because you are the only reason why the industry cares about anything that I do. And everything that you guys have done with Folklore this summer, I'm just so blown away and taken aback by your generosity to me.''